Pakistan arrests C.I.A. informants in bin Laden raid

[Ideologue]

I think I could conceivably get a shitty hydroelectric plant going at any point in the past up to about 500 BC, if I had unlimited access to architects, masons, metalsmiths and slave labor.

I couldn't design anything more advanced than an oven or incandescent light that would utilize any electricity I managed to get out of it, though.

[Razgovory]

Is that really true though? Do you understand modern technologies well enough for you to recreate them, or 9th century Vikings(you'd be better off in Byzantium methinks) to reverse engineer them?

I think most people(well most educated people) could punch out a bunch of major theoretical break-throughs(gravity, gene theory, heliocentrism, bits and pieces of the calculus, etc) but wouldn't be able to do much with those- it would still fall to 9th century scientists to figure out a use for them.

I think Twain's Connecticut Yankee had far more success in recreating his world than is realistically possible(accepting for a moment the possibility of time travel itself).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lest_Darkness_Fall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Came_Early

Perhaps a more relevant story and probably closer to Slargos in the 9th century.

[Slargos]

Is that really true though? Do you understand modern technologies well enough for you to recreate them, or 9th century Vikings(you'd be better off in Byzantium methinks) to reverse engineer them?

I think most people(well most educated people) could punch out a bunch of major theoretical break-throughs(gravity, gene theory, heliocentrism, bits and pieces of the calculus, etc) but wouldn't be able to do much with those- it would still fall to 9th century scientists to figure out a use for them.

I think Twain's Connecticut Yankee had far more success in recreating his world than is realistically possible(accepting for a moment the possibility of time travel itself).

Which is why I gave them 500 years instead of 50. 

My gift to the peoples of the 9th century will be enlightenment, not guns.

I imagine the people of 9th century Sweden can probably sell kitchen cabinets with out your help.

And yet you cannot. There is some irony in there somewhere. 

[Grey Fox]

Give me 30 years & maybe I could teach them how to make a transistor.

No idea how to find any of the required materials tho.

[The Brain]

I would build a simple nuke to start with and take it from there.

[Brazen]

I have it on good authority that the main "informants" are already under the protective custody of Special Forces where they were persuaded to share the vital information used to capture Bin laden under "rigorous interrogation techniques".

[Martinus]

One day, Slargos, I hope someone drops you in to the middle of the 9th Century in whatever shithole Scandinavian country you come from, just to teach you a lesson in the lunacy of presuming your racial superiority over peoples who were inventing Algebra while your shit for brains ancestors were gutting men for Odin.

So, he has to go back merely twelve centuries to find Swedish savages of the same kind that the modern Muslim savages? What an utterly feeble retort. Seriously. I mean, telling Americans off because they owned slaves mere two hundred years ago seems like the height of relevance in comparison.

[Ideologue]

Actually, I just realized that merely learning to speak to people would take at least a year, prior to about 1400 (or so?), and even then only if I happened to reappear in England.  Although I'd be highly employable in England, as long as I didn't run my mouth about any of my political or religious beliefs ("Who?  Jesus?  Yeah, he's great, guys!  And a monarchy sure is the way to go.").

The most exciting part would be the opportunity to exterminate Scots.  Those people are amongst the most Goddamn obnoxious on the face of the planet.

[Slargos]

You would probably have a working vocabulary long before then. Necessity etc etc.

[Martinus]

Back to the topic at hand, rather than a retarded-comment-in-response-to-racist-quip-turned-into-a-AI-nerd-circle-jerk this thread has become, I don't see anything wrong per se with Pakistan arresting the informants - you never want your own military personnel selling state secrets to foreign powers, even if they are your allies.

The Pakistanis' fault lies in not cooperating at the government/agency level, but can't blame them for rooting out traitors.

[Ideologue]

You would probably have a working vocabulary long before then. Necessity etc etc.

I guess that's proably likely.  The only time I was ever plopped down in a place where no one spoke English was downtown Atlanta.  I don't believe any of them could've helped me build a hydroelectric facility.

[Martinus]

Geez. I thought Languish was above topics like "If you were transported 1200 years in the past, how fast would you teach the natives to build a nuke". Seriously. 

[The Brain]

10-20 years probably.

[Slargos]

Frankly, I couldn't do it.

I would have to plant the seed and hope for the best.

[Slargos]

But consider this:

Basic theories of sanitation, medicine, agriculture and steam engines for the Viking hordes.

If you thought the population explosion in Scandinavia was an inconvenience in this timeline, you ain't seen nuffin yet.